This article should follow "Why Outsource Software Projects?". In that article the reader is asked to assume that the typical objections to outsourcing can be remedied. It asserts that Cybron's business model is about providing such remedies. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how we solve the problems which form the basis of typical Outsourcing objections. The intended audience of this article is Business Management.
As mentioned in "Why Outsource Software Projects?", the typical objections raised when considering outsourcing are:
These are valid objections. Failure by the Outsourcer to remedy the basis for these objections is adequate cause not to outsource. My industry experience supports these objections. Although, there have been exceptions.
There are many factors related to substandard software quality. The main causes are poor design, poor build systems, poor specifications, lack of uniform standards, and the inherent difficulty of verification. Cybron uses public and widely accepted standards and procedures to address these, and other issues adversely affecting the quality of deliverables.
In industry, the design of a feature is often left to the Developer implementing it. The aptitude of Developers, in terms of design and architecture varies greatly. Technical aptitude and design aptitude don't necessarily corelate. Often in industry, the more visible work is given to seasoned Developers, while less interesting, but more crucial features are given to less capable Developers. The partitioning of the development work is influenced by the career interests of the individual members.
At Cybron, Software Projects are designed by experienced Architects. This ensure a uniform interfaces and component structures. An individual Architect is charged with enforcing adherence to the design. Adherence to the design is constantly monitored. Feature work is assigned to our Developers based on what is best for the project. The benefits of this process extend beyond just ensuring a great design.
Our Deliverables typically include a Build System. This ensures the Client can independantly build and verify the applicable components of the Deliverables. It ensures that the Deliverables are complete. Cybron excercises great care in selecting its Build System technologies and configurations. Cybron's focus is to utilize a small number of broadly adopted build technologies. This increases the Client's options in regard to later modifications. This reduces the expertise needed to reactivate the project. The importance of a Build System as part of the Deliverables is often overlooked.
Other Outsourcer's may utilize complex Build Systems in order to leverage future maintenance. Cybron's goal is to provide Deliverables which are readily transferable to other Development Groups.
Cybron utilizes proprietary processes for generating Feature Specifications. Detailed Feature Specifications are a neccessary basis of an Implementation Bid. As part of a formal Development Agreement, they are necessary to facilitate third-party verification of the conformance of the Deliverables. It is the enforcability of the Development Agreement which mandates accurate and current Feature Specifications. This is an important advantage of utilizing Cybron as opposed to Internal Development Groups.
The problem with standards is there are so many to choose from. This is very applicable to software development. One would think that something as logical as writing code would be quite condusive to standards. Actually, it is. It is the Developers themselves that are resistant to standards. I have witnessed debates spanning weeks over even 'small' matters like variable names and curley brackets. These and much 'larger' issues are rarely resolved and several design styles are used in the same project. The more divergent the styles, the more costly maintenance and extensibility can become. Divergent design styles affect all aspects of the final deliverables. It complicates testing, documentation, and usability.
The adoption of standards is generally more important than the particular differences among them. Once chosen, the standards must uniformally used and enforced. At Cybron, we have carefully chosen broadly accepted coding and design standards which are rigorously enforced. Our Developers are focused on efficiently implementing specified features in a concise, uniform, and verifiable manner.
Simply put, ease of verification is a primary business interest for Cybron. Clients will rightly wish to verify that the Deliverables meet the terms of the Development Agreement prior to providing payment. Delays in verification equate to delays in payment. So, Cybron focuses on providing Deliverables that are easily verified by an external third party. Our designs are concise, uniform, and standard. Our source code is concise, uniform, and standard. Our Deliverables are concise, uniform, and standard.
Our Development Model eliminates much of the management hassles associated with Outsourcing. We offer basically two types of services. They are Planning and Development. Our Planning service is essentially directed requirements gathering. Our Development service is translating the associated Feature Specifications of an accepted Development Bid into Deliverables according to the terms of the Development Agreement. The management hassles typical of Outsourcing are generally due to inadequate specification and late design changes. Our detailed planning and bidding processes minimize or eliminate these issues.
Once the Development Aggreement is accepted, the Client only needs to arrange the Verification and Acceptance of the Deliverables. Verification and Acceptance can be handled internally, or outsourced to a third party.
Our Planning services are incidentally billed. They are not provided under a contracted arangement. They can be discontinued by the Client at any point. Our proprietary tools allow the Planning Specialist to quickly provide valuable and transferable planning information throughout the Planning process. This allows the Client the freedom to plan the Feature Set without the overhead of an idle Development Group. Our business focus is on securing Development Agreements. Our Planning process is geared towards establishing cost feasible Feature Sets which meet the business goals of the Client. Should no cost feasible solution be found, the Client will have transferrable documentation should a review occur later.
The use of our Development service is not contractually tied to the use of our Planning service. The Feature Specifications produced by our Planning service should be a sufficient basis for other Development organizations to formulate bids and cost schedules. However, our Planning service is influenced by our Development Model and Design paradigms. This allows our Planning Specialist to quickly provide probable cost ranges for Features based on our Development service. However, these cost ranges should be relatively indicative of other Development Organizations.
It is hard to imagine a case where utilizing either our Planning or our Development services would cost more than the equivalent service from an Internal Development Group. In terms of Planning, our Planning Specialists interests are directly aligned with the Client. There is immediate accountability. There is no overhead of internal politics. There is only the Client's interest to determine a feasible and optimal Feature Set to address business goals.
In terms of Development, we are readily able to scale our Development Teams as needed for a given project. Our development model allows us to effeciently reassign our Developers among projects based on need and ability. Their career interests are served by implementing concise, uniform, and verifiable features according to an enforceable Feature Specification.
In terms of competing with other Outsourcers, the bids will speak for themselves.
Cybron provides incidental, incremental, and transferable Planning services. These Planning services range from informal fact-finding to generating detailed and biddable Feature Specifications. Our Development service is based on bidded Development Agreements. The cost of the Deliverables is contained and the composition of the Deliverables is certain.